Sight Unseen: Wendell Berry's Poetry Captured in New Documentary

One of the stars of the Sundance Film Festival is a movie in which the protagonist is completely unseen. Environmental activist and poet Wendell Berry does not like to be on camera, yet filmmakers Laura Dunn and her husband Jef Sewell were resolute in their desire to tell Berry's story on screen. Park Record writes: "While Berry declined to be interviewed on camera, he did agree to several audio sessions in which he read poems related to the filmmakers’ storyline. Those recordings and interviews with Berry’s family more than make up for his absence on screen." Let's start there:

Like Berry’s books, which are divided into chapters, Dunn and Sewell also punctuated “Look and See” with chapter headings, each illustrated with wood engravings by Wesley Bates. The intricately detailed engravings have graced several of Berry’s previous volumes of poetry and enhance the recurring theme of handmade artistry in time of mass production.

“Look and See” had enthusiastic support from executive producers Robert Redford and Terrence Malick. They had collaborated on Dunn’s previous Sundance film “The Unforeseen” whose soundtrack also opens with a Wendell Berry reading and focuses on the conflicts between industrial growth and the natural environment. When Dunn proposed making a documentary about Berry, Redford, a longtime fan, encouraged her.

Dunn also credits cinematographer Lee Daniel, whose decorated career includes, the Oscar-winning film “Boyhood,” with establishing the film’s “poetic lens.”

“He just immersed himself in the landscapes with us and responded to it,” she said, adding the use of Arri Alexa camera allowed them to use only natural light, in keeping with the film’s theme.

At times, Berry’s outlook on the country’s rural roots seems melancholy and discouraging, but the film suggests there is a touch of hope.

Read all about it at Park Record.